In recent years, vehicles and the field of automotive maintenance have experienced rapid growth in computerized systems both within automotive vehicles and in computerized diagnostic tools that identify maintenance issues with the vehicles. Modern vehicles include one or more computer systems that are often referred to as an electronic control unit (ECU). In some vehicles, the ECU controls and monitors the operations of numerous systems including, but not limited to, the engine, steering, tires, transmission, brakes, fuel delivery or battery level monitoring, and climate control systems. Some vehicles also include numerous sensors that monitor various aspects of the operation of the vehicle. The ECU receives the sensor data and is configured to generate diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) if the sensors indicate that one or more systems in the vehicle may be failing or operating outside of predetermined parameters.
Many vehicles use the controller area network (CAN) vehicle bus to transmit data between the ECU and the onboard sensors and components in the vehicle. The CAN bus, or other equivalent data networks in a vehicle, provides a common communication framework between the ECU and the various sensors and systems in the vehicle. Additionally, the CAN bus or equivalent network enables communication between the ECU and external diagnostic tools. Diagnostic tools are also digital computers with communication ports and input/output devices, including display screens and input control buttons, which relay information to a mechanic and enable the mechanic to perform tests and send commands to the ECU. The ECU and diagnostic tools often use an industry standard protocol, such as a version of the on-board diagnostics (OBD) protocol, including the OBD-II protocol. Automotive mechanics and service professionals use a wide range of digital diagnostic tools to interface with the ECUs in vehicles both to diagnose issues with the vehicles, which are often indicated by DTC data from the ECU. Some diagnostic tools are also configured to send commands to the ECU to provide direct control of certain systems within the vehicle during a service procedure. For example, a mechanic can send a command to test the starter motor and the engine in a more controlled manner than is feasible by starting the vehicle manually.
While automotive diagnostic tools are in widespread use today, the diagnostic tools are typically designed for isolated use with a vehicle. For example, most vehicles that arrive at a service center for maintenance are connected to a diagnostic tool to aid in diagnosing problems with the vehicle and to ensure than the problems are resolved after maintenance is performed. The diagnostic results are typically read by one or a small number of mechanics in the service center, and are only used during a particular service visit. Thus, while existing diagnostic tools certainly aid mechanics who perform automotive maintenance and repair, the existing diagnostic tools do not provide larger scale information about the overall scope of operations in a service center. For example, existing diagnostic systems do not generate detailed records about the frequency of common repair procedures, the time duration for the service procedures, the degree of success for the service procedures, the demand for replacement components that are used in the repairs, and other statistics. Some of this information may be recorded manually by mechanics and other service staff, but manual recording of data is both time consuming and prone to error. The issues are further compounded in larger services organizations that operate multiple service centers in many locations with hundreds or even thousands of employees. Consequently, improvements to diagnostic tools and data analysis systems that enable analysis of activities in automotive service centers would be beneficial.